Alan Zendell, July 6, 2026

I have to believe that not only Americans, but people everywhere who have admired America in the past spent the week cringing, maybe even shedding a tear for what Trump is turning this country into. He made an embarrassing mockery of our nation’s 250 anniversary. Everything he did was crass, vulgar, and entirely self-serving. And since our national celebration was to have been centered around the White House and our national mall, the dominant images were:

• the algae-clogged reflection pool, which was incompetently repaired by a Trump-favored no-bid contactor who charged the government nearly ten times more than they bid, and has now been given a second one to repair the damage they did. I wonder if they’ll get a third contract if they screw this one up. (Maybe they’re onto something.)
• the missing East Wing of the White House which Trump illegally demolitioned
• the former rose garden, now paved over for another Trump vanity project
• the disgusting papier mache arch, made even more horrifying watching it deteriorate like a rotting corpse
• the remaining traces of the martial arts caged fights that were Trump’s birthday present to himself (paid for by tax dollars.)

Then there was the national state fair for which Trump illegally transferred funds donated to support the nonpartisan Independence celebration that Trump tried to co-opt. But when entertainers who’d signed up withdrew claiming they’d been misled into thinking they would be part of the real celebration, and it was clear that Trump was using it to further divide the nation, the strangest thing happened. No one showed up. When the crowd-size-obsessed Trump viewed aerial footage of the mall he was so furious, he deleted the images from all White House communications.

I and many of you are old enough to remember our nation’s bicentennial celebration of July 4,1976. The president was the very conservative Gerald Ford – I mean a real conservative who cared more about the Constitution and the general welfare of every American than his own enrichment. Ford was inclusive, asking the country to come together to recover from the damage done by Vietnam. Ford’s address to the nation that day was made before a million people at Independence Hall, Philadelphia. His message stressed three things: the need to preserve our self-government, protecting our personal freedoms, and national unity.

Compare that to what Trump did. He went to Mount Rushmore where he projected an image of himself next to the faces of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt, which are carved into the mountainside. Trump, who isn’t fit to kiss their feet, announced to the world that he was the greatest president of all time, after which he attempted to paint successful Democratic Socialist candidates as Communists trying to destroy our country. It’s notable that people are finally getting wise to Trump. Most people, hearing him try to outdo the disgraced Senator Joseph McCarthy, yawned, understanding that this was just another example of his desperation over the midterm elections.

When Trump reprised his rant over the Save America Act, he was perhaps more honest than he intended. He said that if the Act, which is intended to suppress the votes of people who disapprove of him, wasn’t passed they would lose the presidency forever. In typical tortured Trump logic, what he meant was that MAGA Republicans could only win another election if he was able to rig it.

Destroying America’s celebration wasn’t enough for Trump. He had to stick his corrupt nose into America’s chances in the World Cup soccer matches. In the Americans’ win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, their star striker, Folarin Balogun was given a red card for stomping on the ankle of an opposing player. That meant Balogun left the game with almost forty minutes remaining in the second half forcing his teamto play a man short, and was banned from playing in today’s match against Belgium.

Most of us who watched the game, and most commentators thought the red card ruling was overly harsh. Slow-motion replays showed the contact was clearly accidental, and certainly not with intent to injure. But FIFA referees are generally unassailable, and the call stood.

Today, Trump is bragging that it was his intervention with FIFA that got the call reversed, for which he expected to be cheered by all Americans. Instead, most of us are sickened by Trump’s intervention. Whether the original call was wrong Trump’s action assured that if America defeats Belgium and moves on in the tournament, their success will be tinged by what most of the world is outraged over.

Trump’s intervention was the worst possible thing he could do to the reputation of the U. S. Men’s Soccer team. If they go on to win the World Cup, their victory will have the stink of cheating and political corruption, although the team itself had nothing to do with Trump’s action. England suffered the loss of one its starters due to receiving a red card in its defeat of Mexico. If England accepts its fate without a challenge, anything the Americans achieve will be forever tainted.

The only good news in all this is that our incompetent, demented president seems to have expended all of his good will with American voters. As he heads to the NATO summit where his feet will be held to the coals over his failure to support Ukraine and his attacks on Iran which cost Europe dearly, I have never been more embarrassed for our nation.